Events

Come join us at our next Transition Sebastopol Movie Night at the French Garden Restaurant. Come early and enjoy dinner and conversation. 

Collapse Synopsis
Americans generally like to hear good news. They like to believe that a new president will right old wrongs, that clean energy will replace dirty oil and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. American pundits tend to restrain their pessimism and hope for the best. But is anyone prepared for the worst?

Meet Michael Ruppert, a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, he predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness, at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. Director Chris Smith has shown an affinity for outsiders in films like American Movie and The Yes Men. In Collapse, he departs stylistically from his past documentaries by interviewing Ruppert in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray.

Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate about the issue of peak oil, the concern raised by scientists since the seventies that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn't hold back at sounding an alarm, portraying an apocalyptic future. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded, and to sway back and forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own judgments.

Collapse also serves as a portrait of a loner. Over the years, Ruppert has stood up for what he believes in despite fierce opposition. He candidly describes the sacrifices and motivators in his life. While other observers analyze details of the economic crisis, Ruppert views it as symptomatic of nothing less than the collapse of industrial civilization itself.

Thom Powers
Toronto International Film Festival

Transition Sebastopol is having a family potluck picnic!

Thursday, July 15
from 5:30 pm to 8 pm.

The picnic is happening on the beautiful grounds of St. Stephens Episcopal Church at 500 Robinson Road (off Bodega Ave. between Jewell Ave. and Pleasant Hill Road) in Sebastopol.

Everyone and anyone is invited. Kids are welcome and encouraged to come. Please bring some food to share, and bring your own plates and utensils. Also bring blankets and lawn chairs. Extra kudos if you bring some food grown from your own garden.

Transition is largely about building community bonds and strengthening our connections with each other. And what better way to do that than by sharing food together on a mid-summer evening!

It doesn't matter if you've attended a Transition Sebastopol event or not. Come just to meet others in the community. Or, if you are interested in Transition, this might be a good time to meet some of the folks involved in Transition and to get some information. However, this picnic is about sharing food and just being together more than being an informational meeting.

Also, there will be an introduction of the new Transition Sebastopol clubhouse room which has been generously donated for Transition Sebastopol's use by the wonderful folks at St. Stephens Church.

A Wisdom Council Discussion Group of Transition Sebastopol 

Calling All Elders, Earth Elders, Wannabe Elders, Soon-to-become Elders, or Interested Baby Boomers on up! 


The Elder Salon is a nonhierarchical circle of peers. We’ll introduce the discussion with some thoughts from an elder voice or thought-provoking instigator to kick off our own discovery of what it is WE think and believe about the topic; what WE want and need now and in our future; what WE think should be the course of action and attitudes as we progress into and through our older years.

WHY: There are a lot of new ideas about aging, staying youthful in body and spirit, and our role in society and local life. What have our generational contributions been and what is left undone? What are our mistakes and triumphs?

If we don’t want others to determine what becomes of us in very old age, we need to be proactive and begin making conscious, thoughtful choices about our future, how we want to live and be regarded. What role do elders want to play in the coming changes; what wisdom can we offer?

This month's topic:
HOW MONEY WORKS (OR DOESN’T) FOR US NOW
We promise to use a fun twist on it to give it more zip than zap. Think about what your personal money style is and what challenges aging brings you in your relationship to it.

Friday afternoons at 3:30 at Coffee Catz, an informal gathering, usually outdoors, at least in good weather. There has been a different assortment of folks at each one, usually 4 to 5 of us. We encourage you to try it some week.

First person there asks at the counter for the “Insurgent Elders” sign to put on the chosen table area so others can find you. You might check the far back room if the weather’s cold or wet and choose some shade if it’s warm outside. It’s possible no one would show up, but it hasn’t happened yet!

Come nourish and rejuvenate your Heart and Soul in an atmosphere of singing, sharing, poetry and meditation.
 
We have many wonderful ways we get together to talk, to work and to socialize. However, this event is specifically a way we come together with our hearts to stabilize and grow our love in these times of greater concerns. We will sing songs from across the devotional landscape, offer heartfelt musings and poetry and bask in the joy, love and community of being together in this very special way.
 
Bring your instruments, songs, poems and heartfelt expressions as you feel inspired, or just come and follow along. This is a sacred space event. Socializing will be before and after the event. Feel free to bring snacks or drinks to share.

Come join us at our next Transition Sebastopol Movie Night at the French Garden Restaurant. Come early and enjoy dinner and conversation.

Flow Synopsis

Water is the very essence of life. It sustains every living being on this planet and without it, there would be nothing...

FLOW - Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.

Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.
Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question ‘CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?’

Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.

Film length: 84 minutes

Friday afternoons at 3:30 at Coffee Catz, an informal gathering, usually outdoors, at least in good weather. There has been a different assortment of folks at each one, usually 4 to 5 of us. We encourage you to try it some week.

First person there asks at the counter for the “Insurgent Elders” sign to put on the chosen table area so others can find you. You might check the far back room if the weather’s cold or wet and choose some shade if it’s warm outside. It’s possible no one would show up, but it hasn’t happened yet!